Anthropologie Trinket and Treasure Candlestick Knock-offs

I was going to start this post by saying that I’m as Anthropologie-obssessed as the next girl.

But I’m probably not.

In fact, I know I’m not.

Because when I get my latest Anthro catalogue in, I do some oohing and aaahing and maybe a little (okay, a lot) of drooling.

But then, my next thought is not:

How can scrape together enough money to buy that to-die-for $428 cashmere coat or that $350 bedspread?

Nope.

It’s something a little more like:

Is there any way I can possibly knock this off for about 1,000% less?

Which is honestly exactly what I thought when I first spotted Anthro’s Trinket and Treasure Candlesticks:

I can’t even tell you exactly why, but it was love at first sight.

Perhaps it was the touches of whimsy, the contrasting textures and shapes, the bright colors…

Or the combination of all of the above, but I loved every bit of it.

Until I got to the price.

$398??????!

REALLY, Anthro?

I mean, I know you’re kind of known for your steep price-tags, but FOUR HUNDRED smackers?

The nerve.

I have a problem paying more money. than I think I should have to for anything, much less a decorative doo-dad which can’t even do anything cool like make me hot chocolate or bring me my slippers in the morning (just kidding, I live in E. Texas…waaaaaay too hot for slippers around here).

It’s a sickness, really.

But it’s a sickness that has inspired me to find ways to make things I really love for practically no money.

It takes some effort, though.

For a month, I popped into Goodwill every chance I got to comb the racks for Secondhand or Bare Bottom but also keeping an eye out for cute, kitschy pieces that would work for my candlesticks, and here is what I ended up with:

This little owl with the creepy glowy red eyes is my favorite:

I gave everybody a bath in warm water and dishwashing soap:

…and discovered when he started disintegrating, that my creepy-eyed owl was made of some sort of weird, grainy substance, rather than ceramic like I’d thought (one of my readers later told it was alabaster; good to know).

Don’t worry, his edges are a bit less defined than before, but we managed to salvage his basic shape and, with it, a modicum of his dignity.

My biggest conundrum were those metallic “spacers (for lack of a better term) in the Anthro versions.

I racked my brain (and my husband’s…poor man) but never came up with anything affordable that would serve as a comparable substitute.

I did a fair amount of fiddling and consulting with the hubs until I found a configuration I liked, and then I started gluing. And gluing. And gluing.

And then, it was time for dinner, so Shaun glued and glued and glued, and I cooked.

(All this gluing produced zero burns, amazingly enough, and only one broken owl).

Gotta love a man who not only puts up with but actually participates in his wife’s **harebrained schemes!

**You need to make sure that you’re using a high-heat glue gun (with the setting on high…duh). Also, we learned the hard way that you really do need to rough up your smoother surfaces (like the glass and ceramics) with a little sandpaper before gluing or else it won’t adhere as well as you’d like…hence the broken owl…poor Frederico).

After all that fun with glue, here’s what we ended up with:

Can I just say it?

Woooohooo!

Do I like how they came out?

Um, yes.

But do you know what I LOVE? (Because we’re coming all the way back around to that bargain-obsessed bit that we started out with).

I love that this was the average price of every item that I bought.

So, let’s just take a gander at the price difference, shall we?

So, doing the math—since 3 from Anthro would cost $1,292.50 with tax, and mine were a whopping $15…I saved myself $1,277.50 (that I was never going to spend, anyway, but that’s hardly the point).

Wanna hear the kicker?

The Treasure and Trinket Candlestick collection is soldout on Anthro’s website.

Makes me wonder what I could get for mine.

Hmmmm…. : )

If you liked this project (and made it all the way through my smart-mouthed narration), I’d love it if you’d stop by Five days…5 ways, my humble blogging abode, and check out the other hijinks we get up to!

(And if you love fashion—especially of the thrifted variety—you can check out Secondhand or Bare Bottom, my other humble blogging abode where I post pics of my100% outfits).

Hope to see you soon!

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scissors and spatulas

I’m so excited to be here at Scissors and Spatulas and give Jen mad props for her bravery in having me by for a visit.

I’ll try to be on my best behavior.

Especially since I LOVE her projects (I’ve still got the supplies to copy her modge podge fabric wallet recover…if I can only find time for a project that might not go on the blog!) and am pretty jazzed to get to meet you, her awesome readers!

I run not one but two blogs. Because being a wife, a mama to three children under 6, homeschooling, teaching fitness classes, trying to keep my house reasonably clean, and knocking out a few DIY projects now and then doesn’t keep me busy enough.

And here’s a glimpse at a few more projects I’ve done for pennies on the dollar.

You can find me at Goodwill more often than not, braving the scary, scary bathrooms and unswept floors with all three of my kiddos, in hopes of stumbling upon a treasure amidst the racks upon racks of stone-washed “mom jeans” and “I’m kind of a big deal” tiny tees from 1999 (Darn you, Britney Spears!).

In fact, one of my favorite experiments in thrifting was my “30 Minute Goodwill Challenge,” in which I gave myself 1/2 an hour to find 3 complete outfits, and then did myself one better and came up with all of this:

4 outfits in 30 Minutes for less than $30.

Now, that’s my kind of shopping!

And since a cheapie like me is never going to buy a fancy-schmancy colored washer/dryer set like I drool over in my dreams (complete with twitching and “must.have.it.now” mumbling, I’m sure), I decided to make those never-ending piles of clothes a bit more fun by sprucing up my old washing machine with a little paint and a polka-dot stencil.

Here’s a peak at the transformation in it’s not-yet-finished state:

If you want to see the finished product or take a gander at any of the other thrifty shenanigans I get up to on a daily basis, you can just hop on over and visit.

About the only thing I like better than a good deal is meeting new peeps!

I hope you visit either one of my blogs and say “howdy” while you’re there!

Another big thanks to Jen for having me.

You rock, girl!

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Hi, I’m Abbie, and M is for Mama is an unapologetic ode to messy, maddening, miraculous motherhood. It’s also where I share my favorite non-M-related passions–like thrifting, endless furniture and knickknack rearranging, exercising, baking yummy treats, putting together ridiculously cheap outfits, hot-glue crafting, and typing out my deep (and not-so-deep) thoughts…almost always with one of my 5 children on or near me. I love Jesus, good grammar, and ho-cho (which I don’t get to drink nearly as often as I’d like in the muggy, pine tree forests of East Texas). (I also love parentheses). (Can you tell?). I hope you’ll stick around and share what you love too! Read more here.